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User blog:Matt Hadick/Dungeon Defenders 2 - First Look
Wikia recently got the chance to sit down with Trendy Entertainment and play a pre-alpha build of Dungeon Defenders 2, the forthcoming sequel to 2010's popular tower defense/action-RPG hybrid. While DD2 shares many similarities with the original, Trendy has made a number of changes to the Dungeon Defenders formula, which will be delineated below. Gameplay DD2 expands on the genre-blending conceit of the original in a number of ways, substantially upping the pace of the action without sacrificing the potency of the game's strategy-oriented systems. In fact, Trendy has also managed to widen the game's tactical scope by introducing an elemental Trait System. While the original forced players to pause the action and enter menus to carry out certain tasks, Trendy is working towards an more seamless experience with DD2, with the hope that its action-RPG elements will complement the tower defense side of things. Everything -- including tower placement and construction -- now occurs on the fly. Your main concern in DD2 will be defending the primary and secondary objectives from waves of enemies. The match ends when the primary objective has been destroyed. On the map we played, there were three lanes that enemies came through (some walking, some flying), each of which presented its own tactical considerations. The center lane -- the direct route to the primary objective -- was wide open and multi-leveled, while the left and right lanes were narrow and claustrophobic. To discourage lane-camping, Trendy says that an AI director, similar to the one employed by Valve in the Left 4 Dead games, will work to create micro-moments that require teammates to momentarily abandon their post to focus their collective efforts on a single lane. Trait System As mentioned above, Trendy is introducing an elemental trait system to DD2, adding another layer of strategy to the experience. Certain special attacks, towers, and enemies have an elemental trait -- water, fire, earth, lightning, and more. These traits can be combined to maximize damage. For example, water attacks and towers can be used to drench opponents, making them more susceptible to lightning attacks. The elemental trait system further reinforces DD2's focus on emergent synergies: to succeed, players need to communicate and coordinate across the game's various systems, experimenting with elemental pairings and tower placements until they discover an effective approach. Story The game's story is a direct continuation of the first Dungeon Defenders'. Our heroes are all grown up, and having rid the castle of its orcs and goblins, move to its exterior to defend the surrounding area. This means we can expect more varied level design -- and, as Trendy assured us, the nature of the primary objectives will change depending on the level. Trendy calls the character design -- which is cartoony with a bit of an edge -- "PG-13 Pixar," which makes sense. The game's fluid animation, soft edges, and cel-shaded particle effects make for a very clean visual experience. Characters *Monk *Apprentice *Huntress *Squire Trendy promises 24 characters at launch, but there were only four available characters in the pre-alpha build: squire, monk, apprentice and huntress. The Squire is, as you might expect, a bit of a hack and slasher, wielding a giant sword and shield. His basic melee attack deals substantial damage. One of his towers is a Spike Blockade, which can provide a destructible buffer between the enemies and the objectives. His other tower is a Cannon Ball Turret, which packs a wallop. The Monk is a support character with a number of healing powers, including the ability to construct a Healing Staff, at his disposal. He uses a staff for basic melee combat, but also has a useful Force Push, which can be used to scatter enemies and push them away from objectives. He also has an air tower, which sends enemies aloft upon activation, making them easy fodder for ranged attacks and anti-air towers. The Apprentice is DD2's mage. He wields a long-range staff that releases surges of magical power that can either be charged or shot in bursts depending on the situation. He has two elemental towers at his disposal -- a flame tower and an ice tower, both of which proved essential in our defensive strategy. He can also use a wind gust, which will lob groups of enemies into the air. The Huntress wields a bow and arrow and can throw oil on foes that makes them more susceptible to damage. She can build anti-air towers which prove highly effective against wyverns and other airborne foes. Enemies *Wyvern *Orc *Goblin *Kobold We encountered a variety of enemies during our time with the game. The Goblin is a basic melee fighter and forms the vast majority of the enemy army. These relatively small creatures are the basic pawns of warfare, and those of low level can be easily destroyed with one shot by the experienced Dungeon Defender. They can have an elemental affinity which protects them from certain defenses and damage. Aerial Wyvern proved difficult to engage with melee-oriented characters like the Monk or Squire, making ranged attacks from The Apprentice or The Huntress essential. Wyvern are monsters that often fly above traditional defenses, directly along a set path towards the primary objective. This makes them vulnerable to correctly placed towers. Kobolds are suicidal monsters that blow themselves up in an effort to damage heroes, towers, or objectives. Orcs are the basic tanks of Dungeon Defenders. Although they are slow, they have both a substantial amount of health as well as strong attacks. With DD2, Trendy distinguishes between head shots and body shots, so players using ranged weapons can make short work of these lunks with a few well-placed shots. ---- Stay tuned to Wikia for more information as soon as it's available. The Dungeon Defenders 2 beta is tentatively scheduled to launch somewhere between late 2013 or early 2014. Category:Blog posts